The Wife’s Lament is considered one of the most enigmatic Old English poems. This article sees the doubling and ambiguity of the close of the poem as artistically necessary, rather than as a problem that needs to be settled, which was the approach of previous generations of scholars. By analyzing the echoes, repetitions and changes in the poem’s language and imagery in close textual and grammatical detail, this article demonstrates that the complexity of construction in The Wife’s Lament perfectly undergirds its exploration of the duality of abandonment and companionship at the heart of both real and more figurative exile.